Rolling the Dice
by Rei Ronin
Summary: Against the backdrop of an ancient prophecy, the Titans scramble to stop the new HIVE headmaster's insidious plan. Cloaked by a pair of holorings and a demonic spell, two Titans enroll in H.A.E.Y.P. A Prophecies Universe fanfic. RoSt RaOC Cy?
1. Welcome to the Casino

This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine, however, as well as the basic 'Prophecies Universe' and characters.

* * *

Rolling the Dice:

The Second Prophecy

* * *

This is a sequel to my story, Waves of Fate, and is part of the 'Prophecies Universe', a collection of Teen Titans stories that all tie together. Please read WoF first to become acquainted with the story up to this point, and hopefully be entertained. Rolling the Dice picks up roughly ten days after the end of Waves of Fate, with Raven and Kenkaku returning from their visit to Kenkaku's _sensei_.

* * *

"text": spoken English

"_text_": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)

"**text**": war cry, English

"**_text_**": war cry, Japanese.

_text_: thoughts

-text-: stressed word

text: printed or typed English

_text_: printed or typed Japanese

'text': sound effect

Japanese flavor text will be in a glossary at the end of the chapter.

* * *

Frank Smalls was having a boring day. He was manager of a little gas station on California's border. The best description for his job was monotonous.

Of course, if someone was to rob the gas station, the day could get rather exciting. The bad type of exciting.

Unfortunately, that was about to happen. "MONEY IN THE BAG!" yelled a man in a prison uniform, brandishing a pistol. "And gimme your clothes!"

Amazingly enough, Frank recognized the robber. Roughly a month ago, he had been threatened by the same robber, who had been a free man at the time.

A Japanese-speaking metahuman had been on hand the last time, and had taken him down. Frank had given him some money, and started brushing up on his Japanese.

He was due to start teaching Japanese in the local high school next year, though if this guy got nervous or vicious, he might not live to see that day.

Shaking nervously, Frank started emptying the cash register into the bag the man threw on the counter.

_"You have got to be kidding me."_ A fist smashed into the turning robber, sending him flying across the room, out cold. _"I saw this same scene not a month ago," _said the long-haired metahuman who had punched the robber to the lavender-haired girl standing next to him. Kenkaku, the newest Teen Titan, walked over and checked on the robber. _"Same guy too. Gah." _He looked up at Frank. _"Hey, how're things?"_

Frank sputtered. "Buh…buh…but…"

Kenkaku started browsing the candy bar rack. _"What do you want, Raven?"_

_"Oh, I don't know. Milky Way Midnight, maybe?"_

_"Sure." _Kenkaku picked out a Carmello as well and plopped them down on the counter to pay

Frank shook his head violently and suddenly became coherent. "What are you doing here?"

_"Indulging my sweet tooth."_ Kenkaku pointed over his shoulder with his thumb at the cold-cocked criminal. _"Really didn't expect to see him again. How much do I owe you?"_

_"It's on the house," _said Frank quickly. _"Don't even think of trying to pay."_

_"Your Japanese is much better than the last time we met."_

_"Thank you, sir."_

_"See you." _Kenkaku and Raven gathered up the candy bars and walked back out to the Shinobi, eating them on the way. Frank watched them as they got on the bike and drove off, then went to call 911, his hand bumping into a familiar clip of bills. Kenkaku had left it behind with a 'thank-you' note. The erstwhile gas station manager shook his head.

_You're certainly a rare one._

* * *

'AKA-AKA-AKA-AK!'

In Jump City's dock section, Robin, the Boy Wonder, tucked and rolled as high-velocity slugs came burning in at him. The gunfire stitched a line of holes in the floor and walls of the warehouse he and the gunners were in.

The masked Titan took cover behind a rather solid support column and pulled out his communicator. He had been on one of his routine patrols of the city when he ran into the eight black-clad and assault weapon-toting thugs.

Though thugs was probably a bad word. From what he had caught out of the corner of his eye when he was dodging fire, the so-called 'thugs' had the patch of H.A.E.Y.P. on their shoulders. And their weapons were current military-grade weapons. Robin had hoped that the rash of military weapons being stolen was the doing of Trigon when the Demon Lord had tried to draw Kenkaku into a fight, a decision which had proved fatal for Raven's father.

Unfortunately, the thefts had not slackened, instead getting even more prevalent around the world. Trigon might have been using the thefts, but he was not the mastermind.

Robin had a sneaking suspicion that it might be Slade, but the masked man had been missing for a long time and they had seen the man's mask melting into the lava. Not that it mattered at the moment. What mattered was the fact that whoever was stealing the weapons was supplying them to the HIVE and that they were currently pinning Robin down.

"Robin to all available Titans. I'm in trouble at the dock. HIVE agents with military weapons have me pinned down. I don't see Gizmo, Jinx, or Mammoth. Assist as fast as possible."

"Which warehouse?" asked Cyborg, from in front of the Tower's main computer.

'PWIZING!'

A bullet ricocheted off the column and hit the ground in between Robin's legs. The Boy Wonder flinched. "34-B."

"Right, I'll send Star and BB to help you." Robin nodded and pulled out a pair of Birdarangs before another voice came over the communicator.

"Don't bother. Raven and Kenkaku, responding."

'VRRRRREEM! NEOWOWOWOWOW!'

Pulse bolts sliced open the warehouse wall like Kanesada on rice paper. The bolts scattered the HIVE agents, who rolled to protected spots, much like Robin had when they fired upon him. Robin flipped out from behind his cover as the HIVE agents aimed at the Shinobi as it sped into the warehouse, pulse cannons whining. His two Birdarangs disarmed two of the HIVE agents. Robin pulled out his staff and dove in at the black-clad gunmen. "**YAH!**"

'CLANG!'

Oh wonderful. The agents had metal-laced bracers on their forearms. Robin grimaced and redoubled his efforts, keeping them on the defensive, but doing little damage. It seemed that the HIVE had some good martial arts instructors.

'AKA-AKA-AKA-AKA-AK!'

Raven's eyes flared white as she erected a telekinetic barrier to stop the six assault rifles' fire. The obsidian shield flashed white with each bullet strike, but held up long enough for Kenkaku to go accelerated, his eyes flaming silver-white, chop the bike's throttle, spin it around enough to let it slide broadside towards the HIVE gunmen, and sweep both him and Raven behind it.

The shield shattered underneath the merciless weapons fire, but the bullets that came after only struck the Shinobi's armored hide, barely even scuffing the molecularly-bonded paint job. Cyborg had done a really nice job on the ultrabike and nothing short of a vehicle-mounted heavy weapon was going to do any thing more than spark against the armor.

Robin retracted the staff, then popped it out again, straight into one of the HIVE agents' masked faces. The teenaged villain flew backwards into a crate of spare parts, cracking the wood when he hit. He slumped to the ground, out cold, and with a broken nose.

The other HIVE agent kicked at Robin, catching a piece of the masked hero's shoulder. The blow hurt, and quite a lot. It seemed that the HIVE child soldiers were either metahumans or gen-enhanced humans.

The HIVE soldiers firing on Kenkaku and Raven ran out of ammo, and ducked behind cover to reload. This gave Raven the time to pop up from behind the bike, arm outstretched, and her hand at a ninety-degree angle from her arm, a depleted uranium sphere hovering in the grips of her telekinetic energy right in front of her palm.

The sphere shot off like an obsidian energy arrow, smashing into one of the columns that a pair of the HIVE soldiers were covering behind. The sphere, by design, did not shoot straight through the column and punch through one of the agents, though it certainly could've. Instead, Raven had it transfer its kinetic energy through the column using a tricky application of telekinesis. The net result was that the back of the column shot off of the core in a powerful but non-lethal shockwave, knocking out the fire team behind the pillar and sowing disorder through the others.

Kenkaku dashed across the floor, still in acceleration mode, then stopped in front of one of the fire teams, unleashing Kanesada in an _iai_ so fast that there wasn't even a blur. When he had lost his Demon Lord-level powers following his defeat of Trigon, he had regained the ability to impart force with his blades if he wanted to. The upshot of this was the fact that instead of the HIVE agents, girls both, becoming bisected blood fountains, they simply went flying straight across the warehouse with an impressive number of broken ribs, dead to the world. A vast improvement over dead, but you could be sure that the female miscreants would be in the hospital for a long while to come.

Raven, meanwhile, unsheathed Kanemitu and Sukehiro, holding them in reverse grips and shadow-warped to right in between the last fire team's members, and slammed the_ kashira _of her twin _wakizashi_ into the HIVE members' temples, laying them out cold.

The female half-demon spun the blades and sheathed them in the _saya_ at the small of her back, attached to her swordbelt in an 'x' pattern. Her boyfriend sheathed Kanesada in the traditional 'two motions' manner and they both turned to watch Robin take on the last conscious HIVE agent.

The battle was over before it started. Robin might have been just a normal human, but he was a -very- good martial artist and was at the absolute peak of his body's potential. He dodged a punch and countered with a hard palm-strike that nearly cracked the HIVE member's sternum. Needless to say, the HIVE agent went down like he had been sandbagged. Robin got to work with cuffs pulled from his utility belt. "So, you two are back to stay?"

Kenkaku nodded as he pulled the limp HIVE agents over to Robin so the Boy Wonder could cuff them easier. _"Hai."_ He caught a pair of cuffs that Robin threw at him and kneeled, snapping the 'bracelets' around one of the girls' wrists. Raven used her powers to bend some metal bars into restraints as Robin only had four pairs of cuffs on him today. She also collected the assault rifles from where they had fallen, piling them up.

Robin put a call through to the JCPD to pick up the metahuman operatives and summoned the R-Cycle. Kenkaku propped up the Shinobi and swung his leg over it, getting ready to ride. Raven settled in behind him. Soon they heard the familiar tune of police sirens and the boys in white and black took over: the JCPD's Metahuman Control Unit.

* * *

Starfire floated a few inches off the island's surface, watching as the Titan's two motorcycles and their riders moved along the suspension bridge, heading towards the entrance to the secret tunnel that led to the island.

Suddenly, she noticed a barrel tracking the motorcycles. _We do not have a defensive station there, _thought the confused Tamaranian. _And the barrel is tracking…NO!_

Starbolts sprang into glowing life on her wrists, and her eyes glowed with emerald fury as she rose into the air.

'ZAK! ZAK! ZAK!'

The triphammer blow of starbolts on the rock shelter sent chunks of sandstone flying and scattered the four HIVE agents, one bolt sizzling the flesh on the back of the one with the sniper rifle. He screamed and dashed to the water, throwing himself into the surf and screaming louder as the salty brine hit his wound.

The only girl in the squad retuned fire on Starfire with what looked to be a plasma carbine, a very powerful and fast-firing weapon. The projectiles also 'splashed' on contact, making it extremely dangerous to someone behind cover. But it did not have great projectile speed, making it possible to dodge with normal reflexes. Starfire had battle-honed reflexes. Needless to say, with all the three-dimensional space at her disposal, dodging was easy. She chipped away at the other girl's cover with starbolts before finally nailing her with one, taking her out of the fight.

'RRRRRRRRRRRR!'

Now one of the remaining two HIVE soldiers, big burly guys both, was firing at her with a three-barreled minigun attached to an ammo pack on his back. She turned and wove, doing her best to avoid getting perforated, varying altitude and speed. She rolled out and threw a starbolt at the ground in front of him. Sand shot up in a plume in front of him, obscuring both combatants' views.

Starfire was caught by surprise when he burst through the gout of silicate, whirling around and bringing up an automatic shotgun. The gun barked five times, tongues of flame reaching out, and little metal pellets spraying out in a deadly cone.

'SSSHOWWW!'

A blue cone of sonic energy carved a path through the deadly swarm. "BOOYAH! Get em Star!"

Starfire took the safe route through and nailed the gunner with a pair of starbolts. One hit the muscle-bound teenager in the gut, and the other slagged his minigun.

'PSSSSHOW!'

'VRRRRRRR!'

'BOOM!'

A boat sped away the island, a missile launched by the last HIVE soldier streaking through the air and detonating near enough to Starfire that the overpressure wave knocked her silly, grounding her.

Cyborg caught her with one arm, transforming the other into an autocannon and firing a burst at the speedboat.

'RRRRR!'

The bullets kicked up spray in front of and to the side of the boat, but short of raking the boat with gunfire, likely killing the agent, there was really nothing he could do to stop the boat. He transformed his arm back to normal and called Robin on his built-in arm comlink. "Robin, Star and I just stopped an attack on you guys by some HIVE agents with military weapons. We took three of them down, but one got away."

"I hear you. Look out, there were eight of them when they attacked me."

"I hear ya, dawg. Oh, Soothsayer came to visit. Says that another prophecy seems to be coming into focus, and that means its going to be starting soon, because she wasn't looking for it. She's whooping on BB in Soul Calibur right now."

"Right, we'll be there soon."

Cyborg shook Starfire into coherence and they gathered up the fallen HIVE agents and their weapons, bringing them back to the tower.

* * *

The sun was setting as Kenkaku walked over to the table that the Titans were sitting and standing around with two cups of _sencha_. He handed one to Raven and kept the other for himself. Lacking a seat, he leaned against the counter next to Raven. Robin stood at the nominal 'head' of the table, Starfire sitting on his right and Cyborg on his left. Soothsayer sat across from Robin and Beast Boy sat on the counter on the opposite side of the table from Kenkaku and Raven.

Robin tapped the remote to the main TV in his hand. "Titans. Well, it's good to see everyone here, but, as you may have guessed from the trouble today and Soothsayer showing up, we've got some things to deal with. The first order of business is the stolen military weapons, and it's pertinent to the following points."

He clicked the remote and a map of the world showed up with lighted red dots showing where there had been a theft. The brighter the dot, the more that had been stolen. The brightest dots were in Southern California, along the coast, particularly around Jump City.

"Okay. This problem with stolen military weapons started for us and apparently, the rest of the world, just before Kenkaku showed up. This led us to believe that Trigon and his minions were the ones causing this trouble. As Trigon had been rendered headless by our resident ronin," he nodded at Kenkaku, who nodded back, "We can see that while Trigon might have contributed to the problem, he was not the mastermind. It seems to me that Trigon was probably using whoever is doing this as a stepping-stone. Not that his motivations matter now."

Robin clicked on the remote again, showing the routes of the weapons' shipping. A large number of sources poured into Jump City, but none came out. It was the only location on the map to have that happen. It took a practiced eye to pick it out of the morass of all the other delivery routes as an important point, but it was possible to tell. Robin tapped the remote against his palm.

"We've been given the mission of solving this case by the Justice League, and our city needs us to solve it. We will not fail. That's point number one." He clicked the remote again and eleven mug shots came up, along with an 'unknown' profile. Also on the screen was the crest of H.A.E.Y.P. as well as the military-grade weapons that the HIVE agents had carried. "The HIVE has got its hands in the weapons trade, and seems to want us dead. The twelve teenagers who attacked us today were Team Cipher, a group of 12 genetically-enhanced humans with a good deal of combat training, and graduates of the HIVE's basic courses. Our old enemies, Gizmo, Jinx, and Mammoth, seem to be a year ahead of Team Cipher and are know internally as Team Hydra. They're undergoing advanced courses, sort of like supervillian college. Also, H.A.E.Y.P. seems to have gone through some major reorganization of the leadership, though exactly what has happened there is unclear."

Robin's eyemask narrowed as his eyes did underneath. "The HIVE has always just put up with our presence before. Whatever happened in the shakeup, the new policy isn't a good one. We need to get someone or a few people inside to find out what's happening."

He clicked the remote and the image of a familiar blonde-haired drifter with vaguely Asian eyes came up on the screen. "The final item that I have is, of course, Terra. Kenkaku, how soon do you estimate until you can bring her back?"

The ronin cocked his head to the side before replying in his heavily-accented English. "Two weeks if I do nothing, plus two days at the end for intense preparation. Three weeks if I stay in combat without using _kiaijutsu_, plus the same two days. All bets are off if I use _kiaijutsu_."

"Okay," replied Robin, "We'll probably be going with the second option. Soothsayer, you had something to say about a prophecy?"

"Yes. A prophecy is coming into focus, and I was not even looking for it. This generally means that the prophecy is going to be acted out soon. It seems to center on Cyborg and Raven's half-sister, who we have no idea who that is."

"Is that all you have?" asked Robin.

"Well, it's likely to involve another life-or-death, destiny changing struggle, but nearly all prophecies are like that. Also the Warrior of the Wind Soul, who seems to be Kenkaku, is mentioned a number of times, so he's likely to play a role, though I have no idea what."

Kenkaku let out a few choice Japanese epithets. _"I can deal with one prophecy," _he muttered so that only Raven could hear him, _"Especially since it was for your sake. But two is a little extreme."_

The other half-demon squeezed his hand. _"Don't worry, I know you can do it, and I'm always here to help you. Besides, you aren't doing the heavy lifting this time."_ This brought a smile to the ronin's face.

"You have something on the prophecy, Kenkaku?" asked Robin, mistaking the curses for communication.

_"Iie."___

"Well then, we'd better get started on the cases. Kenkaku, you're on a _kiaijutsu _ban excepting times of extreme need. City in danger of annihilation, certain death without it, rescuing the whole team, something along those lines."

_"Youkai."___

"Cyborg, I'm going to put you in charge of the infiltration of HIVE. Figure out some way to get in. Choose a partner to help you with that, someone whose powers are destruction oriented and can act evil. Actually, you should probably be taking Kenkaku. He's the least well-known of us, and being a half-demon, should be able to do an evil look rather easily."

"Yeah, I think Kaku probably is the best bet."

The swordsman grumbled. Demons were not inherently evil, but a curse had been put upon them so that they felt a bloodlust, according to some of the material his _sensei_ had given him on his recent visit. But, classically, they were considered evil, and were more often than not. He figured that the tomes of his demon bloodlines would have some good information on demonic magic that he could use. _"Right.__ I'll get on that." _He nodded so that the non-Japanese speakers wouldn't take his grumbling and Japanese as a sign of not going along with it. He switched over to English. "Speaking of that, what about blade training?"

"Right, we need to get onto that as well as bare-hands training for everyone. You and I will work out a schedule for that. I'm sure Raven can help you out with some sort of demonic look and probably with the blades as well."

Raven raised her eyebrow. "I got a little help from Kenkaku's _sensei, _not a lot. I can try though, and we'll go through the _oni_ tomes to see if we can find anything."

Robin nodded. "Good. Sorry to swamp you like this, Kenkaku, but you seem to have the unfortunate habit of having the right skills for the jobs that seem to be coming up lately. We'll leave you, Raven, and Cyborg off the patrol roster so you'll have time to work on your projects, but be ready to respond to trouble. Star, BB, you two will have most of the official patrols. I'm sure I'll get restless and go off on another one of my prowls, and I'll do a few, but it'll mostly be up to you." He scratched his chin. "Soothsayer, try to clear up the prophecy as quickly as possible. I'd like to have more information than we did with Kenkaku's. Also, I'd like you to join the hand-to-hand training so you won't be defenseless if some villain recognizes your connection to us and comes after you. Maybe you could come in on weekends."

The blonde nodded. "Sure. I'll spend all of math class and study hall on clearing up that prophecy." She smirked. Beast Boy laughed and most of the other Titans smiled slightly and shook their heads.

Robin wiped the smile off of his face and crossed his arms. "Alright, we know what we need to do, so let's get to it!" he ordered in a businesslike tone. "Kenkaku, Raven, you two come with me so we can work out the training regimen."

The two half-demons followed the Boy Wonder out of the room as the other Titans hopped to their tasks. Little did they know what was in store for them in the coming weeks.

* * *

Japanese Flavor Text:

Sensei: Literally "One who has come before". More common translations are 'teacher' or 'master'.

Iai: "Sword draw."

Kashira: Pommel on a Japanese-style sword.

Wakizashi: Japanese short sword, with the same basic style as the katana.

Saya: "Sheath."

Hai: "Yes."

Sencha: "Green tea."

Kiaijutsu: "Art of the kiai." A style of Japanese martial arts that uses the power of one's ki to create effects.

Iie: "No."

Youkai: "Roger."

Oni: "Demon." Specifically a Japanese one.

* * *

A/N: Well, here it is. The highly anticipated sequel to Waves of Fate, and the continuation of the 'Prophecies Universe' storyline. Kenkaku will still be one of the main characters this time around, and you'll see more of his flaws this time, but the new prophecy's main players are Cyborg and Raven's mysterious half-sister, who we have yet to meet, so they obviously will be getting a lot of screentime, as will Raven, for obvious reasons. The others, well, you'll see more from them in sequels to this, and they should get more time than in WoF, but this isn't really their story.

Another point. C2. I'm still looking for some good authors who think they would like to work with me in the 'Prophecies Universe', to create a C2 group containing a combined group of Teen Titans stories, in a sort of multi-author work that would let us create something much greater than what I could on my own. If you're interested, even if you're unsure of your writing talent, e-mail me or drop me a message on my Yahoo IM: reironin, and we'll talk about how you can get involved.

Well, till the next chapter, ja na.

--Kai Reased, The Rei Ronin

Oh yes, and please do review. I love to know what my readers think of this stuff I write, and how they think I can make it better.


	2. Dealing the Hands: Part 1

This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine, however, as well as the basic 'Prophecies Universe' and characters.

* * *

Rolling the Dice:

The Second Prophecy

* * *

A 'Prophecies Universe' fanfiction.

* * *

"text": spoken English

"_text_": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)

"**text**": war cry, English

"**_text_**": war cry, Japanese.

_text_: thoughts

-text-: stressed word

text: printed or typed English

_text_: printed or typed Japanese

'text': sound effect

Japanese flavor text will be in a glossary at the end of the chapter.

* * *

Kenkaku took a Motrin and leaned back in his chair, but not indulging in one of the few bare-hands _kata_ he knew, all of which he could perform in his room. Though it would let him burn off some of his pent-up energy, he had work to do, and if he did one _kata_ he knew he would soon find himself trekking up to the roof to do one with swords, as well as meditate, and then his work would be shot. Not to mention the fact that it was raining outside.

He bent back down to one of the ancient scrolls of _Touki no Fenikkusu-ryu,_ trying to find some acceptable early training methods for the eclectic group he was to teach. He knew what he wanted to teach them later on, but the early stuff was tying him in knots. Normally, a _sensei_ would teach basic weapons handling, then move on to _kata_, but with such an array of weapons, that would be both time-consuming and difficult. He reached up to massage his temples, but someone beat him to it.

His lips curved gently as Raven's slim fingers ran over his skin. _"Trouble, Ker?"_ She started massaging his shoulders.

He grasped one of her hands with his and gave it a little squeeze. _"You could say that, Karasu-chan."_

Yes, Raven was in his room. Titans policy was that none of the full Titans were monitored in their rooms, or the bathroom. No, they were not sleeping together, though they both knew it was only a matter of time. The whole 'soul mates' deal kinda cinched that.

_"What's wrong?"_

_"Oh, I'm trying to find something for everyone to start off the lessons with before I can get to the actual instruction."_

_"Why don't you teach them to meditate?"_

Kenkaku raised an eyebrow. _"Mind telling me where you're going with this idea?"_

_"Like you once said to me, meditation comes with many martial arts. Besides, you could have most of us meditate while you taught one person."_

_"The idea, like all of yours, certainly has merit."_ He rubbed his thumb across the knuckles of the hand he was holding.

She wrapped her free arm around him and laid her chin on his opposite shoulder. _"Glad I could help."_

The other Titans knew intellectually that Raven's emotions, for the most part, no longer caused interference with her powers, just as they knew that the two half-demons were soul mates, but they still would've been rather surprised to see Raven like this. She was still rather closed and cold, though not nearly as much so as when she had joined the team, except when speaking Japanese, which of the live-in Titans, only she and Ker were fluent in.

In fact, they had gone so far as to request that the other Titans not learn the language, excepting some quick one-word answers and common phrases that Kenkaku could use to communicate on a day-to-day basis without him having to switch over to English, which he was not a great fan of. Japanese was their little refuge, in which it was just them.

Kenkaku kissed the hand he held. _"You find anything interesting?"_

_"Plenty, actually.__ Do you want to take a look?"_

_"Not really, but I guess I should, huh?"_

_"We have time. Want to take a break?"_

_"Yeah, actually, I do."_

_"Big surprise there. Lazy bum."_

_"Don't make me tickle you," _he said mock threateningly. There was something he was rather sure he was alone in existence in knowing. Raven was very, very ticklish in a few spots. It was one of the reasons for the old 'no touch' rule.

_"You know, if anyone heard that threat, your rep would die. How about we cuddle?"_

He obliged her. _"Speaking of dying reps…"_

_"Oh, shush."_ She smiled as he kissed the crown of her head and started stroking her lavender hair, which she had started wearing a little longer, much like he did. Well, not nearly as much as he had, but it was indeed longer. _"I guess you're right though. The motorcycle-riding badass with twin swords, who speaks a foreign language, and the dark, Gothic sorceress, and they're cuddling. They probably expect S&M out of us."_

_"Hmmm. I'll pass. Better to let our reps die than have to hurt one another like that."_

She fake pouted. _"Now you've ruined my plans."_

The ronin gave her a tender kiss on the lips. _"I'm sure we can figure out some thing to appease you."_

_"Your body is already thinking of ideas," _she pointed out.

_"You do have that effect on me."_

_"Oh?"_

_"Well put yourself in my position. I'm snugged up to a devastatingly gorgeous young woman, who also happens to be smart, in shape, sexy as hell, is possessed of amazing powers, is a half-demon like me, and, oh yeah, is my -soul mate-. I'd say I've got a good excuse."_

_"Nice to feel wanted."_She kissed him deeply.

* * *

Cyborg was typing away at his computer when someone rapped a gloved fist on his door. "Come in," he said, not even looking up, though if it was a gloved fist, it could be basically anyone except for Starfire or Soothsayer, neither of who, if he remembered correctly, were in the tower.

Granted, neither Raven nor Kenkaku normally wore their gloves, but both of the riding outfits he had made for them to replace their old costumes did have gloves with them.

In any case, Robin dispelled the confusion when he spoke. "You got any ideas?"

"Yeah dawg. Come and take a look." Cyborg waved Robin over to look at the file he had open in CAD (Computer Aided Drafting and Design).

The schematics were Greek to Robin. "You're the real engineer here. I've invented some things but nothing like this. What is it?"

"It's a holographic projector. I'm trying to miniaturize it as well as add a function that gives the holograph a real feel. It's going pretty well. Gonna be a 180-proof bitch to make, though."

"Right. Will Kenkaku be able to use one?"

Cyborg turned to the screen again. "-That-, I can't do. Take a look." He pointed at a few notes he had made to organize the human part of his mind, especially one in particular.

Miniaturization of a holographic projector is possible, excepting the problem of the power source.

"That's the trouble, dawg." Cyborg picked up a pair of rings with disc-shaped housings on them. "This is what the system's going to be mounted in." He showed Robin a pair of identical power sockets on the inside of the rings' bands as well as matching sockets on his middle fingers. "These rings are going to feed off my internal cell, as well as hook into my cooling systems. Kaku, talented as he is, just doesn't have something like that, unless he could use his _kiaijutsu _somehow. I could rig up a belt or backpack generator with a few hours to a day of power, depending on the size of the powercell, but we'll probably be in the HIVE for much longer than that."

"Yeah…what are you going to do about power?"

"Got it covered," smiled Cyborg. "I can use food as an alternative energy source."

"I know, but you're going to need a lot."

"Like I said, dawg, I've got it covered." He brought up another document on the computer. "Meet Stone." A burly black teenager with Cyborg's basic size and shape stood in a pair of gray sweatpants and a white muscle shirt on the screen. In fact the face looked kinda familiar…

"Cyborg, is that…" Robin trailed off.

The former high school football star sighed. "Me before the titanium and polymer, yeah." He moved the cursor over the picture and it changed to a picture of what was recognizably the same person, but with living stone for skin and a number of metal adornments, including a headband. The picture changed once more, showing the human and stone halves, next to each other. Robin shuddered. The gray, stony skin next to the healthy human skin, reminded him of Two-Face, who, he remembered, had used to be a friend of Bruce Wayne's before his accident and subsequent slide into madness. "Stone is the creation of some mad scientist, who, while he wasn't known of at all, was rather skilled. To power his transformation to the living rock form, he has a very powerful metabolism. Therefore, he has to eat a lot. Power on a plate."

"Clever. Well, it's time to start weapon lessons. I've got to go change, but you should meet the others in the gym."

"Right, dawg, see ya there."

* * *

Robin walked into the gym wearing a white muscle shirt and a pair of loose black silk pants, still wearing his mask. He carried his _yari _with him. Cyborg it seemed, had arrived just before him, the _nodaichi _known as _Inousin-kai_ strapped to his metallic back. Beast Boy was holding his jian, Green Destiny, by the sheath and was in sweatpants and a t-shirt. Starfire was in a tight tank top and a pair of workout pants, her _naginata _propped up against the wall.

Robin walked over to her and leaned against the wall. "So where are our intrepid teachers?"

"I do not know. I have been waiting here for some time."

Robin stole a kiss and was about to say something more when Kenkaku and Raven walked in. The ronin was wearing a _gi_and _hakama_while Raven was wearing her old leotard. "Sorry," said Raven. "We got lost in our research."

"Right," snickered Beast Boy, "Research."

The half-demons blushed but recovered quickly, Kenkaku's thumb playing with Kanesada's _tsuba_. The changeling gulped and mimed zipping his lips. Kenkaku smirked. "Alright. You're going to need to bear with my accent and quite a few Japanese words. Sorry. Also, sorry to disappoint, but we're starting with meditation. I've got some good reasons for this, but let's get down to it. First, you're all going to need to sit in _anza_. That's Indian-style. I'll be sitting in _seiza_ but there's no need for you all to go through the difficulty. Now, before you all sit down, it is important that you watch me go through the basic motions. I'll do it in _anza_" Kenkaku slid to the floor and assumed _anza_Next, he took Muramasa and took it between two fingers, gripping at the throat of the _saya, _and pulled the weapon part of the way out of his _obi_, before gripping the _saya _about half way down the blade and pulling it completely out of his _obi._ He set Muramasa on the ground, in front of him, then repeated the process with Kanesada. "That's the motions for placing your weapon. It will have to be modified for each one, but the two grasps should stay constant. It is of secondary importance, but we might as well do this. It helps to clear one's mind once it becomes a habit. All right. You guys try it."

The Titans complied with this order with minimal difficulty. Kenkaku nodded and slipped into _seiza_"Good. Now place your hands in lightly balled fists on your knees." When they had all done that, he continued. "First we'll start with breathing. I want you to, as close as you can, to breath from your center of gravity, which is in your belly. I'll be referring to this location as your _hara_from now on. Take slow, deep, even breaths, as if you were asleep. Do not fall asleep. I will whack you if you do."

He looked out at the others. "Meditation, for our purposes, is the art of attaining _wa_, which is best translated as accord. Don't ask me to explain. It would take too long. Suffice to say, you'll know _wa_when you attain it, and it's something you want to attain. Now, I know Raven chants when she meditates normally, but we're going to do something different. I'm going to give you a _koan_ to think about. Don't try giving me a smart-assed answer. I know them all, and used them to piss off my _sensei. _And don't give up with the answer that there is no answer. Alright. I want you to tell me what the sound of one hand clapping is. Don't over-analyze, but think about it with your eyes half-closed. Hopefully, this will let you achieve _wa_And it is very important to keep your mind focused on solving the _koan_. Do not let your mind wander. Now get to it."

The Titans got to it. Amazingly, all of them had achieved _wa_by the end of the session. Kenkaku smiled. "Very good, all of you. I'm probably going to ask you to meditate while I teach a student, but that's for the future. For now, I think it best that we get back to what we were doing before."

* * *

_"That went well," commented_ Raven as they walked back to Kenkaku's room to continue their research, after Kenkaku did a quick single-sword _kata._ _"I find Zen meditation somewhat strange, but very good. So what were the smart-assed responses to the koan?"_

The ronin smirked. _"Well, my first answer calculated to piss off sensei was to clap one hand against the stationary one. Only one hand was clapping." _He demonstrated. _"He, of course, was more than a little pissed at that, and asked for another answer. I swung my hand back and forth. He got annoyed because it was a lot like the traditional 'wrong' answer. I then clarified that if you listened closely, you could hear the hand passing through the air, and with really keen hearing, you could probably hear the muscles working."_

Raven was smiling at this. _"Any more?"___

_"Yeah.__ This one speaks for itself." _He held out his hand and started slapping his fingers into his palm. _"He gave up with that one. Mind you, that's just what I remember."_

Raven giggled. _"And the real answer, which I'm fairly certain I know?"_

_"There isn't one. The purpose of a koan is to help one think about nothing, like your chant. Don't tell the others that."_ They went into his room, and he sat down at his desk. _"So what did we find in the demon tomes?"_

_"Well…" _She brought over a number of scrolls and ancient-looking books with liberal applications of sticky notes. _"First thing is, these are originals, not translations."_

_"Eh?" _Kenkaku opened one of the books, Japanese-style, seeing _kanji_. _"But they're written in kanji."_

_"Right.__ Demons are from a different dimensional plane, on a planet that corresponds with Earth. Both Demons of the Wind and Demons of the Soul come from the land that corresponds with Japan, and speak the language that for all intents and purposes, is Japanese. So while you don't have any human Japanese blood, fifty percent of your blood -is- Japanese."_

_"Something doesn't add up. I thought you were from a planet in this dimension."_

_"Azarath, that's right. Many types of demons were banished by magic to Azarath after a war between demons and humans, instigated by the bloodlust curse."_

_"Ah. So, let's see if I've got this straight. Demons were originally a race imbued with magical abilities from an alternate dimension from Earth's."_

_"Right."___

_"At some point in history, demons came over to Earth's dimension by magic and all was good for a while, until some sorcerer placed a curse on the whole race, causing the whole bloodlust problem."_

_"Exactly.__ Then the war, then the banishment." _She handed him a pair of familial scrolls. _"You're of some rather good stock, actually." _

Ker took the scrolls and looked them over. _"Two Demon Lords, huh?"_

_"From my childhood teachings, I remember these two. They were both considered extremely powerful, but both sued for peace during the war. In other words, they worked past the curse. Trigon did not like them being spoken reverently about, but if you read between the lines…"_

_"Ah." _He continued reading the scroll. _"Human blood starts to get in here and…here. And the bloodlines merge and spit out me, here."_

_"At the very bottom of the scroll?"___

_"Yeah.__ Anything else?"_

_"Some very good references on the different sorts of demons, as well as something that's going to provide your disguise."___

_"Ah, very good.__ So what is it?"_

_"Remember my dear old dad's demonblades?"_

_"Yeah.__ I've still got them. Nice weapons."_

_"They're our chance to make your disguise work."_

* * *

Robin looked up from some computer work he was doing on the HIVE case when Raven knocked on his door. "Yes?"

"It's Raven."

"Come on in." He saved the file and turned around as the sorceress walked in. "How's the search for Kenkaku's disguise going?"

"Very well. Do you have any more of those black silk pants you wore to the meditation? Preferably longer, so Kenkaku might be able to wear them?"

"No, but you could buy them in the mall. Are they for the disguise?"

"Yes."

"I'll pick them up on my patrol. Would seven pairs be enough?"

"I would think so."

"Right, I'll get them for you."

* * *

"Cyborg?"

The half-android walked to the door, glad for at least a small break. "What can I do for you, Rae?"

"How many times do I have to ask you not to call me that?"

"Obviously, quite a few more."

Raven sighed. "I've got Kenkaku's cover story and profile. Can you make a pair of bracers for him like Trigon's? "

"Sure. Can I take a look at the file, or do I have to wait till Robin's hand-to-hand practice to see him?"

She shrugged. "Ruin the surprise if you want."

Cyborg did. "Dude! He looks so badass! And I thought Stone was good. How'd you do that."

She smirked. "Magic."

* * *

Japanese Flavor Text:

Kata: "Form/Routine."

Touki no Fenikkusu-ryu: "Fighting Spirit of the Phoenix School."

Sensei: Literally "One who has come before." Commonly "Teacher/Master."

Karasu-chan: "Little Raven." Kenkaku's pet name for Raven.

Yari: "Spear."

Nodaichi: "Great sword." Larger version of the katana

Jian: Chinese. Type of sword previously referred to as a taichi sword. Think Green Destiny.

Naginata: Japanese polearm, roughly equivalent to a glaive. Wakizashi on a stick.

Gi: Martial arts shirt.

Hakama: Pleated pants. Often mistaken as a skirt.

Tsuba: "Sword guard."

Anza: Indian-style sitting.

Seiza: Sitting on one's legs that are folded under oneself

Saya: "Sheath."

Obi: "Belt."

Hara: "Center."

Wa: "Accord." Like Kenkaku said, it would take far too long to explain.

Koan: "Story." Kenkaku is referring to a saying that is contradictory, yet true, impossible, yet true, or just plain nonsense, yet true.

Kanji: "Chinese characters." A system of writing Japanese.

* * *

A/N: Well, here's the second chapter. Hope you like. It is still mostly set up, and yes, you will get to 'see' Kenkaku's 'badass' disguise in the next chapter, as well as see a little fighting action. As you may have guessed, this story is mostly inspired by the episode 'Deception', though it should go much further. After all, I have plenty more than thirty minutes to work in.

Reviews are nice. So would someone helping me out with this C2 thing, dammit! I can only provide one look at this. I'd be glad to have another perspective on the Prophecies Universe. Overjoyed, actually. That's rei (underscore) ronin on Yahoo IM, and see my author page for email.

Whatever. Ja na.

--Kai Reased, the Rei Ronin


	3. Dealing the Hands: Part 2

This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine, however, as well as the basic 'Prophecies Universe' and characters.

* * *

Rolling the Dice:

The Second Prophecy

* * *

A 'Prophecies Universe' fanfiction.

* * *

"text": spoken English

"_text_": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)

"**text**": war cry, English

"**_text_**": war cry, Japanese.

_text_: thoughts

-text-: stressed word

text: printed or typed English

_text_: printed or typed Japanese

'text': sound effect

Japanese flavor text will be in a glossary at the end of the chapter.

* * *

"Alright dawgs! I present to you, the second-most badassed teenage villain ever conceived: Stone." Cyborg, wearing his holorings, slammed his fists together. With a bright flash of light, his old form masked his metal body.

Beast Boy and Starfire gasped. "Oooh," crooned the Tamaranian. "I have never seen such a fine holoprojection. That is what you have created, correct?"

"Yeah, but you've never -felt- one like this either. The projection feels like real skin and cloth."

"Cool, dude, but that's not a very imposing supervillian," remarked Beast Boy.

Cyborg slammed his fists together again. Another flash of light, and the golem-like form of Stone coated his body. "This do?"

"Yeah, that'll do," said Beast Boy in quite a bit of awe.

Robin smirked. "Second most badassed teenage villain, Cy?" He flinched as a blade slid under his chin.

"I'm first," hissed out Kenkaku in a voice that, while still possessed of his heavy Japanese accent, was more growling.

"I give you, Kenkaku, playing the part of Makil Ainu, Trigon's Bladeheir, otherwise known as Ittou," said Raven proudly as she held his blades.

Kenkaku pulled his blade back and sheathed it on his back. The Titans who had not already seen him gasped.

Kenkaku's normally brown hair was silver-white, and worn like Trigon's had been. His ears were pointier than they had been, though they were nowhere near Beast Boy's level. His skin was blood red, and was decorated with black tattoos in the style of a cross between blades, vines, and flames. His eyes glowed dull silver-white. He wore a pair of the black silk pants that Robin had picked up and a pair of supple but tough martial arts shoes. Beyond that he only had the tattoos and a pair of straps that supported the twin sheaths for Trigon's old demonblades, a style of blade that was a mix of dao and shamshir. Contrary to what one might believe, they were not black or red. The blades were gleaming enchanted steel. The handles were of about the length of a two-handed sword such as a katana, with a black silk wrap, and the pommels fit together to form a staff blade. He gave them a toothy smile that revealed that each of his teeth had gotten much sharper, and the canines were much longer. His teeth looked fully capable of ripping a throat out.

No doubt about it. Kenkaku looked -evil-. Cool, but evil. Kenkaku closed his eyes and reverted to his normal self and costume. "Like it? All Raven's doing. I'm playing a full Demon of the Wind that Trigon decided to pass his blades on to. The tattoos light up when my eyes flare too." He took Kanesada and Muramasa from Raven and put them in their normal places.

Robin smiled. "You won't need those here. Alright. Our first lesson will be the vertical punch of Wing Chun. We'll start with some stretching…"

The alarm cut Robin off.

* * *

Robin typed away at the main computer. "Looks like our old friends, Team Hydra, are robbing the bank. Let's go take them down."

"Sounds like fun. How about it, Kaku? One last heroic battle against a old nemesis or two before we descend into the depths of evil?"

_"Maa na._ We've got them beat, easy. Six Titans against three of them? _Unzari__."___

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Boring?"

Robin smirked. "Well, Star and BB could use a break, and I could work on some research. A three-on-three sound good?"

"Sure dawg. Half-human Titans, GO!"

The half-humans charged out of the room to the elevator.

Robin smirked as he faintly heard the engines of the Shinobi and the T-car roar and the tires screech as the three sped away. "Well, that was easy."

"You do not think they will need assistance?"

"Star, you know they can handle it," said Beast Boy as he dragged himself off. "Me, I need a nap. You've got us working too hard, Robin."

"That's why they pay us the big bucks," smirked Robin.

"When was the last time you got paid Robin?" shot back the changeling tiredly.

Robin held up his Titans expense card. "This makes up for it."

"Oh. Right. Gotcha." The green elf shambled out of the room.

"Are you actually going to work on the HIVE case, Tim?"

"I should…but I think I can spare some time for you, if you want it." The stoplight colored hero was tackled and deeply kissed by a green streak.

* * *

Kenkaku slid the Shinobi in and out of traffic as Cyborg spoke in his ear. "Left up there. Have you fought them before?"

_"Hai."_The ronin took the turn at a fairly high speed, leaning the bike quite heavily. Raven emulated his position on the bike. She had gotten much better at riding during the visit to her boyfriend's _sensei_, and could actually probably ride solo, but she still rode with him. Kenkaku remembered something. "Gizmo-san has a new pack."

"Oh?"

_"Hai._It's a battle exoskeleton. Two vibroblade arms, a chain gun, and a flamethrower. Transforms out of the spider pack."

"Thanks, Kaku."

The Shinobi came to a halt in front of the bank, outside of the police barriers. Cyborg pulled up in the T-car a second later. The drivers secured their vehicles and made ready to burst in. Cyborg transformed his right arm into a four-tube rocket launcher, checking to see that it was loaded. Kenkaku drew Kanesada, and held it out in front of him one-handed, spinning it a few times to limber up his wrists. Raven got a depleted-uranium sphere ready, keeping her other hand ready to draw Sukehiro.

One of the JCPDMCU officers walked over, helmet off and rifle slung. He was blonde haired and had blue eyes, with a rather strong chin. He also had a fairly strong German accent. "Where are the other Titans?" he asked Kenkaku.

Cyborg stepped in front of the swordsman. "They have other work to do. We'll be more than enough."

The officer looked the African-American Titan up and down. "I shall hope so," he said with a slight sneer.

Cyborg scowled and turned back to his fellow Titans. "Right, let's kick those scrawny little HIVE kids' butts!" He opened a compartment in his leg and pulled out a grenade, changing the rocket launcher over to a sonic cannon. "Smoke grenade," he explained. "I figure you two aren't big on the whole speech at the beginning, so we'll skip it. Ready?"

The two half-demons nodded. Cyborg pulled the grenade's pin and waited for smoke to start coming out the top, telling him that the chemicals had indeed started mixing enough to provide visual cover. The half-mechanical Titan grunted as he chucked the smoke grenade deep into the bank, all the way to the now-open vault door.

White smoke billowed out from the can, looking like cotton, and obscuring any view from inside the vault. "Kaku! Go!"

The ronin's eyes flamed silver-white and he dashed across the bank floor, bursting through the smoke cloud as the HIVE agents mustered their defense. His rising slash of Kanesada caught Jinx unprepared, sending her stumbling backwards, bent over with her arms folded over her gut. "AGH!"

"You're pretty cocky, fool!" roared Mammoth, as he swung one of his economy-size fists at the swordsman.

'SMASH!'

Concrete cracked and shattered as Mammoth's fist hit the ground where Kenkaku had been standing

'tp'

The swordsman landed on the genetically-enhanced teen's forearm and slashed him across the face with Kanesada. Mammoth's head snapped to the side, but unlike many others would have, he did not go down under the blow. He bellowed and snatched at Kenkaku, who jumped again, flipping through the air to land on top of a pallet of gold bullion. Gizmo's pack deployed a pair of energy cannons, which zeroed in on Kenakaku.

"Eat this, you crud-munching, pit-sniffing worm!" Gizmo was just about to push the button on his controller that would fire the cannons when…

'CRUNCH!'

Gizmo was thrown to the ground from the impact of a depleted uranium sphere to one of the cannons. Needless to say, the cannon that had taken the hit was totally trashed. The other one fired into the ground at point-blank range, flipping Gizmo over onto his back and blowing a crater into the floor of the vault.

Mammoth charged at Kenkaku, a super-powered punch knocking the pile of gold out from under the swordsman, who had flipped off to take Gizmo when he saw the long-haired HIVE member come at him. Besides, Kenkaku had back-up.

'SSSHOWWW!'

A sonic cannon blast came flying through the falling gold bricks and slammed into Mammoth, staggering him. "BOOYAH!" Cyborg charged forward and slugged Mammoth across the face.

Raven levitated out of the way of a pink hex blast and drew her swords, holding them in a backhanded grip. Jinx cartwheeled at her and flipped into the air, trying to deliver a kick. Raven was more than ready for that, and blocked with the crossed flats of her blades. Jinx jumped back, unleashing another hex blast. Raven's enchanted _wakizashi_ vibrated as the blast deflected off them. Raven held up one arm and her hand glowed with her obsidian energy. A gold brick smashed into the small of the other girl's back.

"Crud-munching idiot!" Gizmo unleashed another burst of flame at Kenkaku, which the half-demon avoided lithely. "Hold still!" He swiped at Kenkaku with one of the vibroblade arms.

'SHING!'

A powerful two-handed slash of Kanesada took half a foot off the end of the arm. Kenkaku had come out of the whole prophecy more powerful than he had been going in, albeit not as powerful as during the final fight. _"Dame da!"_ He blocked another swing and swept one of the exoskeleton's legs out from under it, dropping Gizmo and his pack to the ground. Four quick swings, and the exoskeleton's arms and legs were useless stubs, only to catch a laser blast to the chest as Gizmo quickly switched modes and blasted the ronin. Gizmo flew up on his jetpack to hover above the smoking ronin, training the laser cannon on him.

"You're not so tough, are you, you worthless kludgehead!?" crowed Gizmo.

_"That hurt," _growled out the swordsman. The laser had luckily hit his jacket, which incorporated a type of body armor, instead of hitting him on bare skin or somewhere protected by only a t-shirt, where it would've caused rather serious damage.

Kenkaku came off the ground in a rising slash that smashed into the side of Gizmo's bald head. He overdid it a bit, and Gizmo's jaw cracked a bit and a few bloody teeth flew out onto the floor. The pint-sized genius went flying across the room on his thruster flames, smacking into a wall hard enough to knock him out and for blood to run down the wall. The half-demon spat at his enemy and started checking on his own wound.

The jacket had taken most of the blast, but underneath it he had a pretty nasty first to second degree burn. He gritted his teeth and did his best to forget the pain, not using his _kiaijutsu _technique for getting rid of pain.

"GIZMO!" thundered Mammoth, throwing Cyborg across the room and charging Kenkaku. The swordsman drew Muramasa and prepared for the attack.

The long-haired giant's right fist flew at Kenkaku, who diverted the punch with Muramasa and stabbed Kanesada into Mammoth's gut.

'THOOM!'

"HOUGH!" Spittle flew from the big teenager's mouth as he folded over the _katana_, but he still had enough presence of mind to bash Kenkaku into the wall, incidentally hitting him on the burn.

_"AUGH!"_ The ronin slumped against the wall and clutched his wound. Mammoth staggered to his feet to lumber over and crush the swordsman, but Cyborg caught his jaw with a vicious running headbutt that stunned the HIVE agent, then KOed the gen-enged human with a myomer-driven right cross. He pumped a stunning burst of sonic cannon into Mammoth to finish, just to be sure.

Raven, who had been distracted by Kenkaku's scream of pain, staggered back, clutching her face. Jinx had slipped a hex blast in through her guard, one composed only of force. The HIVE sorceress spun around into a kick that caught the lavender-haired girl in the stomach. Raven's breath burst out of her in a rush, but she slashed blindly in front of her with her blades, forcing Jinx back a few steps. Jinx popped back into range, and let off a triple punch that backed Raven against a pallet of gold bricks. Jinx smirked and raised her arm to hex the gold.

'THOOM!'

She never got the chance, as a pair of _katana _slammed into her side. Kenkaku had snap-risen from where he had lain against the wall, before dashing across the room, spinning on the last few steps to build up momentum for his strike. The pink-haired sorceress went flying through the air, only a reflexive hex saving her. The hex started crumbling the wall as she flew through it, saving her life. The force had been great enough that she would've gone through the wall anyway. Actually, it was a wonder that Kenkaku had been able to restrain himself to force, rather than cutting.

Kenkaku sheathed his swords and reached down to help Raven up. Before he could stop her, she healed his burn._ "Chikushou. I was really hoping to get some non-kiaijutsu pain blocking practice in."_

Raven 'thwaped' him on the forehead. _"Nutcase.__ I'll put a leatherskin enchantment on you before you leave. No need to do anything so stupid as to run around with a burn on your chest."_

_"No, I've been getting too reliant on kiaijutsu. I've got to stay versatile. To become so reliant…"_

Raven put her fingers over his mouth. _"Quiet. You don't have to pull a Robin-san. You have enough skill with your blades to keep yourself alive and do your job. Perfection is not necessary."_

The swordsman lowered his head a bit. _"You're right, as always."_

_"So why don't you listen to me?"_

Kenkaku just shook his head and grinned. _"Just stupid, I guess."_

Cyborg cleared his throat as he finished binding the HIVE agents. "Sorry to break up a moment or something, but let's just get out of here. That MCU commander is a bastard."

The half-demons nodded in agreement. The officer had gone straight to Kenkaku, the greenest Titan, bypassing the official second-in-command of the Titans, and the one that provided the common sense. And, to make it worse, the police had been informed that Kenkaku spoke only Japanese, and had never been told of the change in the situation.

"Well, well, well. Quite a mess you made in here," said the blonde officer, stepping into the vault. He had been looking at Cyborg as he said that. "But thanks for your help." That was said facing directly at Kenkaku. The officer turned back to Cyborg. "Quite a mess," he repeated. "I do hope nothing was stolen."

Cyborg glared at the man. Kenkaku had to forcibly stop his hand from twitching, and removed his other hand from Kanesada's _saya_. He probably would've at least popped the blade, a very direct threat, had Raven not put her hand on his shoulder. _"Kutabare,"_ he spat at the officer.

"Let's go. I'm sure the oh-so-competent MCU officers can take over here," said Cyborg as they brushed by the officer.

* * *

"Since when did the JCPD MCU start hiring KKK?" groused Cyborg as he stomped through the opening doors of the elevator.

"Huh?" Robin turned himself around from the computer. Internally, he gave a sigh of relief. He had just gotten to work when they came in. Had they seen him making out with Starfire… "Did you say KKK?"

"Yeah, Aryan-boy back there. Bias up the wazoo."

"You're kidding."

"No, dawg. When we arrive on the scene, this little neo-Nazi goes straight to Kenkaku. You know, the one he thinks speaks only JAP-A-FUCKING-NESE! The one he thinks is just a white boy."

Robin coughed. "Are you sure you aren't overreacting?"

_"Iya."_ Kenkaku crossed his arms over his chest. "I was considering showing him Ittou. Especially Ittou's teeth."

"You didn't, did you?" Kenkaku just gave him a look. "Sorry, stupid question. Anyway, stupid, biased, and useless MCU officers aside, how did it go?"

Cyborg shrugged. "Took them down, and whatever damage was taken Raven already got rid of. Any good news here?"

"You could say that. H.A.E.Y.P.'s advanced program has just accepted two applicants, with some very nice letters. They're practically begging you two to join."

Kenkaku smirked as his features melted into Ittou's, his _katana_ disappearing and on his back, Trigon's demonblades blossoming like twin, deadly metal wings. He gave another wolfish smile. "So, when do Stone and I learn the ways of your primitive, Terran evil?"

Robin gave a good natured shake of his head. "You leave tomorrow. Now change back. I'm pretty sure Raven prefers you in your normal state."

Ittou laughed and transformed back into Kenkaku, who redoubled his laughing as he saw Raven smack Robin with Kanemitu. _"Eeee, Karasu-chan, isn't it the truth?"_

_"Well, of course," _replied Raven as she walked over to him, snugging into the arm he draped over her shoulder as they walked off. _"But such a comment could not go unpunished."_

* * *

Japanese Flavor Text:

Ittou: "Blade." Kenkaku's fake villain name.

Maa na: "Whatever."

Unzari: "Boring."

Hai: "Yes."

Sensei: "Teacher."

Dame da: "Bad!"

Iya: "No." Strong.


	4. Dealing the Hands: Part 3

This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine, however, as well as the basic 'Prophecies Universe' and characters.

* * *

Rolling the Dice:

The Second Prophecy

* * *

A 'Prophecies Universe' fanfiction.

* * *

"text": spoken English

"_text_": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)

"**text**": war cry, English

"**_text_**": war cry, Japanese.

_text_: thoughts

-text-: stressed word

text: printed or typed English

_text_: printed or typed Japanese

'text': sound effect

Japanese flavor text will be in a glossary at the end of the chapter.

* * *

Kenkaku gave a sad little smile as Raven's deft hands kneaded away a few knots in his back. _"I don't know how I'm going to manage without being with you."_ It was a pretty valid concern. Ever since Kenkaku had killed Trigon, the two had pretty much never been apart for more than half an hour at the most. They generally slept cuddled in the same bed, though they had not -slept- together.

Being together felt natural, not smothering. It was almost like a drug, and a very addictive one at that. _"The same way I'm going to manage without being with you." _She turned him around and placed two fingers on his pineal eye, the same place where she had a chakra stone in her forehead. She chanted a few words that the other half-demon did not quite catch, and her fingers glowed. She pulled them away, then touched them to her chakra, tracing a faintly glowing blue path in the air, anchored by glowing blue areas on each of their foreheads. The glow and hue faded quickly

_"What was that?"_

Raven smiled. _"A spell that gives us a telepathic connection.__ You have to initiate the contact while meditating or some such, but it's two-way from there." _

Kenkaku gave a broad grin. _"Perfect!"_ He wrapped his arms around her, whirled her around, and kissed her deeply. _"Have I told you I love you lately?"_

_"Yes, but I like to hear it."_

_"Well then, I love you."_

* * *

Raven stood in front of Cyborg and Kenkaku as they slipped into their villainous roles in a half-completed building on the other side of town from the Tower. "Now, I'll be your contact. Call me when you can to update us on the mission. Kenkaku has an untraceable special line. I'll be expecting frequent calls on that." She smirked. Ittou gave a toothy grin, and nodded. "Have fun at school, boys." She shadow-warped out.

Stone, in his non-golem form, shuddered. "You know, Kaku, she's right. We are going to school."

"Ah, you need some education."

"I built the bike you ride!"

"For which I am grateful…motorhead. But we'll be learning villain tactics and strategies. That could help."

"True enough. So, no good-bye kiss?"

"We didn't figure you would have the patience to wait."

Stone raised an eyebrow. "That long? So…you took care of that before?"

Ittou nodded his head slightly. "What I'm worried about is being away from Raven for so long."

"That what the special line is for? Some kind of telepathic connection?"

"Got it in one, my statue-like friend. Do -not- snap me out of meditation."

"Unless I want to test my armor against a pair of demonblades?"

"Against Kanesada and Muramasa. You already lost one arm…"

"Happy meditation, Bladeheir. You know, other than your classes for us, this is the most English I've ever heard out of you."

"I'm already unhappy about being away from Raven, you don't have to remind me that I'm not speaking Japanese. At least I can lapse into _Nihongou_ without breaking character. Demons of the Wind are _oni._"

"Huh." Stone tapped his foot. "Where are they? The H.A.E.Y.P. people are supposed to be here by now."

"They'll come. Being late is probably a calculated gesture to show that even if we got such nice acceptance letters, we're just two students to them. Ittou will -not- be happy with this."

"Oh?"

"He's demon aristocracy from under Trigon. Do the math."

"Makes sense. So how does Stone fit into his worldview?"

"A good accomplice, and for some reason, entertaining. For some reason or another he respects the guy. Ittou is actually rather conflicted. He's from my bloodline, which isn't particularly evil, so to speak, but he wanted to become as powerful as possible, so he became Trigon's Bladeheir. He's mellowing because of his time on Earth, but he absolutely -hates- Kenkaku."

"Why?"

"One reason is that he is sworn to kill Kenkaku for killing Trigon, even if he is grateful for getting the blades. But the real reason is that that classless, tainted blood, half-demon ronin stole his betrothed."

Stone laughed his head off. "Oh that's good dawg! So has that classless, tainted blood, half-demon ronin taken Ittou's betrothed's virginity? "

"I really don't see how that's your business."

Stone walked over and threw his heavy arm around Ittou's shoulder. "Because I'm one of your male friends, and we're supposed to talk about such things."

_"I suppose I should be changing the honorifics I use."_

"Eh?"

"Never mind. Well, I suppose I'll answer your question. No, no I haven't."

"Really!? But you two are soul mates and all…"

"Love doesn't require sex, you know. We both know it's only a matter of time, but we don't want to rush it."

"What if one of you dies? That is a risk associated with our field."

"I fought the most powerful Demon Lord of all time, and -won-. I figure if I can live through that, old age is my most likely killer. Getting killed is a risk that is very avoidable if one works to keep themselves alive. I guess the bottom line is, we want it to be special, not just some romp in the sack for no reason at all."

"But you two love each other, and that's never going to change. Seems like a reason to me."

"There is that, isn't there?" He shrugged. "It's a little weird. You can compare notes with me when you find your soul mate?"

"What do you mean, dawg?"

"My bet is that Raven's half-sister, whoever she is, is your soul mate. And with a prophecy unfolding, my bet is that we find her soon." A van pulled up outside. "Showtime."

The two undercover Titans stood up from the old chairs they were sitting on, brushed themselves off, and strode out to the start of there mission.

* * *

"And these are your dorm rooms. As advanced students, you get separate rooms that are connected to a common room shared by you and a few other students," said a HIVE teacher.

"Who else?" asked Stone.

"I believe that three other students share this room," answered the teacher, "Team Hydra. Their names are Gizmo, Jinx, and Mammoth, if I'm correct. You shouldn't have any trouble figuring out which is which is which. I teach martial arts, an elective, here. Would I be seeing either of you in my class?"

"Very possible," said Ittou.

"I shall look forward to having such an illustrious Demon of the Wind in my class. Team Hydra got in a fight with the Teen Titans, and lost to only three of those so-called heroes. I understand the new headmaster is adding you two to Hydra to strengthen them. They were retrieved from the MCU yesterday, and quite easily. As soon as the medics are done with them, they should be here. Until then, you have the run of the common room. Please fill out your course applications. The first semester starts in two days. You will be directed to your next activity by an announcement in your earbud." He handed them two. "We were informed that your powers and transformation would not interfere with these. If we were misinformed, please inform us of the tolerances necessary for a device that could be used in place of these, and one will be issued to you."

"Thank you, sir."

"Thanks. Don't be too hard on Ittou, okay? He can be a little frail."

Ittou's eyes and tattoos flared. "Watch it, golem-boy."

"Intimidating," commented the teacher. "I think you will go far in my class, Ittou-san. Both of you have bright futures in the HIVE. Now get to applying to your classes. I must prepare."

The two new students nodded and slipped the earbuds into their ears, walking into their respective dorm rooms. Both tossed their bags on the beds and scooped up the course application sheets, walking into the common room.

Ittou plopped down in a comfortable chair and dragged the table over with his foot. _"Let's see." _He checked off Martial Arts, as well as the normal class load. Vehicular Combat would provide some good practice, so he went for that too. Demonic Magic could help round out his abilities, and would let him help Raven with her studies. 

Stone walked over and looked over Ittou's courses. "Huh. That's a pretty full load, Makil." Indeed, Ittou only had one open slot for extra study time

"Whatever, golem-boy. What do you have?" He took the offered sheet. "Vehicular Combat and Hero Psychology?" He handed the sheet back. "I'm surprised you're not taking Cybernetics. You've got a knack for it."

Stone checked that one off. "You're right. I guess I'll take that one." They fed their papers into a scanner on the wall. "So what now?"

Ittou shrugged before a beeping in his ear interrupted him. "Report to the cafeteria for dinner," said the voice in their ears.

"Never mind. I guess we see how bad the food around here is."

* * *

Ittou stared at the bowl of ramen on his tray along with a cup of Mr. Pibb. Stone sat down heavily across from him with a plate full of sloppy joes. More accurately, a heaping tray full. "MMMM! Sloppy joes!"

Literally the entire cafeteria, excepting Ittou, stared at him. Stone looked back nervously. "Um, just like the mad scientist that made me used to make?" Amazing that such a flimsy explanation would hold up but it did. Everyone else went back to what they were doing before Stone's outburst. "Heh."

"It's nice of them to recognize my heritage," muttered Ittou as he poked at the ramen with his fork. "But there had better be some variety in this menu, or I'm moving over to human flesh. And could they not have Dr. Pepper instead of this cheap imitation?"

"That bad?" asked Stone, through a mouthful of meat, bread, and sauce.

"They don't even have _sencha._"

"What'd you say, dawg?"

"Green tea. They don't have green tea."

"Should I be running for my genetically-engineered life?"

"Not yet. Give me time." He pulled some of the noodles out of the ramen and started eating. "Not bad, but very good either."

Stone tossed another sloppy joe into his gaping mouth. "So long as you don't flip out and kill me like a _ninja_, I suppose I'm okay."

"Hey! What are you crud-munchers doing at -our- table!?" Gizmo's annoying voice came from behind Ittou.

Ittou went accelerated and pulled one of his blades out its sheath on his back, pointing it directly at the two bandaged male members of Team Hydra. "Sit down and shut up if you don't want me adding your flesh to my food."

Mammoth clamped his hands over the tip of the demonblade. "Who are you?" he growled.

"There's another blade on my back," Ittou informed Mammoth. "If you want to keep you hands, you will stop defiling my blade. And don't try attacking me. I'm much faster than you will ever be." Mammoth promptly dropped the blade at the demon's threat. "As for my name, I am registered to this school as Ittou." He sheathed the blade and took another forkful of ramen, his pointed teeth shredding the flavored noodles. "I assume you are two of the members of Team Hydra that were defeated by the same number of Titans." He gestured across the table with his fork. "My friend's name is Stone."

Stone stood up and pounded his fists together, triggering the transformation. He glared at the Hydras. "And if you have a problem with us being around, I'll be happy to kick your asses."

"Hold." Ittou held out his hand, palm down towards Stone. "There is, after all, no need for us to be fighting. We are supposed to be working with them." Stone sat down

"So you are the two new students we are adding to our team," said Jinx as she limped up to the table with a tray. "Hope you measure up. The Titans have got much better lately." She sat down next to Stone, who canceled his transformation and started eating again. The two other Hydras reluctantly sat down and started eating. "So, you two are?"

"Genetically-engineered soldier," said Stone.

"Demon of the Wind, Bladeheir to Lord Trigon the Terrible," answered Ittou. "You?"

"Probability-changing sorceress." She hexed Mammoth under the table.

The long-haired strongman looked up. "Huh? Oh. Genetically-engineered soldier."

Gizmo grumbled. "Genius inventor."

Jinx nodded happily. "So that puts us with two tanks, two support, and…pray tell what kind of a demon is a Demon of the Wind? I can't remember exactly."

Stone smiled. "My man Ittou moves fast. Really fast."

"Are you good with your blades?" inquired Jinx

"Good enough to be named Bladeheir to he who was quite possibly the most powerful Demon Lord in history," answered Ittou. "And before you ask, I would be quite happy to kill the newest Titan." He finished off his food. "Are we allowed to go back to the dorms once we're done, or are such things frowned upon?"

"You can leave," snickered Gizmo.

"No, you can't," said Jinx.

Ittou gave vent a few choice Japanese curses. "Fine. I'll just wait." He crossed his arms, and looked malevolent, something which he was exceedingly good at.

Jinx looked over at Stone. "Your friend is downright stand-offish."

Stone stopped gobbling sloppy joes for a second. "You're brave for saying that in front of his face." Ittou snorted. Stone continued. "But honestly, he's mellowing. He nearly took my head off when I met him. He just doesn't like people challenging his skills or worth. And he's demon aristocracy."

_"Ichidokini," _grunted Ittou.

"What did he say?" asked Jinx.

"Don't know. I don't speak Japanese. Hey, Ittou, what'd you say?"

"I -was- aristocracy. Up until that half-blood killed Lord Trigon. Now if I want to be back on the register, I must kill him."

"Oh. So that's why you want to kill him?"

"I could care less about my title. I have the power I want."

"So what's your reason?" asked Mammoth, who had just finished his food, which had rivaled Stone's pile.

"It's personal. I might tell you later."

Mammoth looked like he might try to press him for more information, but just then, a tone sounded in their ears, and they were called to the auditorium.

* * *

"It is good to see so many students in these seats," said the gray-haired man at the lectern. "I am your new headmaster, though I would prefer for you to call me Brother Blood."

Jinx leaned over to whisper to Stone. "There are all kinds of rumors about him and the reorganization. Supposedly he's got all kinds of new plans for the school."

"Huh."

"No one else will admit it, but it's probably a good idea," said Jinx.

"New blood is generally a good thing," affirmed Stone. "A fresh perspective can really help."

"Sure you should be talking about blood in front of your buddy?" taunted Gizmo.

Ittou glanced over to where Gizmo was sitting, looking across Stone and Jinx. He let out a short growl. "Shut up. I don't get affected the same as most."

"Then you're from the disgraced line?" asked Mammoth. "How'd you become Bladeheir?"

"Ittou's just that good," answered Stone.

Ittou hissed. "Shut it. Sounds like he's done with pleasantries."

Brother Blood raised his voice a bit. "…do away with the meaningless and competitive team projects. We shall be doing a class project that will rock the foundations of this city and will be used to destroy the group of do-gooders, the TEEN TITANS!"

The auditorium erupted into cheering. During the commotion, Brother Blood's eyes flashed red. Ittou's silver eyes narrowed as all around the auditorium, eyes went red, then went back to normal. There was only one exception, a person with what looked like demonic magic crackling around their body. _What the hell was that?_

* * *

Japanese Flavor Text:

Nihogou: "Japanese"

Oni: "Japanese devil."

Ichidokini: "At one time."

* * *

A/N: Well, they're in the HIVE. Also, thanks to bloodstar, the C2 community is now open. It's still an open project, so long as you consult with me at either rei(underscore)ronin on Yahoo IM or at my e-mail address, which you should be able to find in my bio. bloodstar is doing an interesting little side story to Rolling the Dice starring Beast Boy and Soothsayer. It's not up yet, but it should be very good. Thanks to all of you who read, and even more thanks to those who also review. Until next time.

Ja na.

--Kai Reased, The Rei Ronin__


	5. Dealing the Hands: Part 4

This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine, however, as well as the basic 'Prophecies Universe' and characters.

---

Rolling the Dice:

The Second Prophecy

A 'Prophecies Universe' fanfiction.

---

"text": spoken English

"_text_": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)

"**text**": war cry, English

"**_text_**": war cry, Japanese.

_text_: thoughts

-text-: stressed word

text: printed or typed English

_text_: printed or typed Japanese

'text': sound effect

Japanese flavor text will be in a glossary at the end of the chapter.

---

Brother Blood's speech was wrapped up quickly and the rest of the day was designated free time. _"Sunei,"_ groaned Ittou. "I will be meditating. Snap me out of it without a very good reason, and you will die. If I'm feeling generous, it'll be quick. If not…" He bared his fangs, which spoke for itself. "Am I understood?"

"Crystal," answered Stone, who knew that Ittou would be very, very, -very- pissed. "I'll keep the short one away from you."

"Would I be able to join you?" asked Mammoth.

A snow-white eyebrow arched. "Excuse me?" Ittou's luminescent silver eyes scanned Mammoth. "You meditate?"

"Yes. Many of the attacks I possess that are not of a simple punching or kicking nature require a great deal of concentration to pull off. I am one of the better students in Martial Arts."

Ittou actually bowed to Mammoth. "I might have misjudged you. Please, I would be honored."

"You wouldn't be the first one to do that. Shall I show you the meditation room?"

"A room solely for meditation?" Ittou nearly bit his lip before remembering that he had pointed teeth. "I don't suppose you know where to find some _sencha_ around here, do you?"

Mammoth inclined his head. "I have a very large supply. And if you wish, we could converse in _Nihongou_, _though mine is not very good. Perhaps you could help me become better?_"

Ittou's eyes went wide. _"I have severely misjudged you. We shall have to talk."_

"_After meditation, perhaps? The room is this way."_

Gizmo scratched his bald head as he watched Mammoth lead Ittou off, deep in a conversation in Japanese. "Since when did he meditate?"

Jinx sighed and though of hexing Gizmo but settled for whacking him in the back of the head. "He's been at it ever since he started taking Martial Arts." She turned to Stone, whose mouth was wide open, and staring at the hallway that Ittou and Mammoth had walked down. "Uh, that wasn't normal, right?"

"He's -never- done that before," answered Stone. "So what do people do for fun around here?"

---

Ittou settled into _seiza_ and immediately reached _wa._ _Now, let's see. I have to go into the physical representation of my mind to make the connection. Been a while._

With no discernable exterior change he divested his mental self from his body, finding himself in his normal body, wearing Kanesada and Muramasa. He stood in the middle of his _sensei's dojo_.

Up until he was hit by a flying tackle. He immediately wrapped his arm around his tackler and kissed her. Raven broke the kiss and shook her head _"It's already been hell, and it's only been a few hours." _

Kenkaku kissed her again. _"I'm lucky. I've had to keep the Ittou charade up, and that's keeping me distracted. God, but he's a pissy bastard."_

"_Who?"_

"_Ittou. Actually, he and Mammoth seem to be getting on pretty well."_

"_Mammoth?" _She arched an eyebrow.

Kenkaku laughed. _"He meditates, and he's also promised to introduce Ittou to a supply of green tea."_

"_Mammoth meditates?" _The look on Raven's face was priceless.

Ker gave her a kiss. _"Actually, it makes quite a bit of sense. He -is- rather skilled at directing the force of his strikes through solid objects. He told Ittou that he's practicing in a sort of incomplete kiaijutsu."_ He gave a considering look. _"Actually, Mammoth doesn't seem like that bad of a person." _He caught Raven's look and shrugged. _"What? I know he's a villain. So's Ittou, but even he has some redeeming qualities. Honestly, I'd think if you could get him to quit the HIVE, he might make a good Titan."_

Raven appeared to think it over a bit. She smiled. _"Well, it'd be your job to get him to quit, wouldn't it? I hate to bring business into this but…"_

"_Then don't," _saidKer as he captured her lips in a passionate kiss.

---

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like there was much in the way of fun stuff planned for a while, and jaunts out into the city were forbidden to Team Hydra for a few weeks. So Gizmo had retreated, grumbling, into his workshop to work on a new mobile unit, upgraded with greater speed, if not as much strength. It was obvious that Kenkaku was getting to him, so much so that he was willing to sacrifice strength, which would help him against Cyborg, for speed, which was necessary to fight the modern-day ronin. That left Jinx and Stone alone in the common room.

"That new Titan is really staring to piss him off, huh?" asked Stone.

"With good reason," answered Jinx. "The new one, Kenkai, or whatever his name is, is just plain dangerous. Besides, if you ask me, the boy has a crush on me, and one of the few times he got me alone, the new guy and Raven showed up."

"What happened?"

"The witch took me down, and Gizmo claims to have beaten the swordsman."

"You think he didn't?"

"Mammoth came by later and said that the new guy had some wounds, but nothing like what Gizmo's pack could do. And one of the swords that the guy was holding was doused in blood. So much blood that it looked like he had killed someone."

"Whoa. You sure this guy's a hero?"

"That's a good question. Anyway, I'm glad Ittou is so willing to take him on. He's just a pain to fight against."

"I imagine." Stone tapped his chin. "So, what do people do for fun around here?"

---

"Okay Stone, I'm here," said Ittou as he stood in the doorway of Stone's room.

"Good, good." Stone waved him in.

Ittou walked in about three strides before stopping, shocked to see Cyborg sitting where Stone had been. "Uh, might you want to keep in character?"

"No need. You and I are under both a holocloak and a sound damping field. I've got a little show running so that we can report in."

"Oh, good idea."

"I assume you already made out with Raven."

"We talked," answered Kenkaku evasively.

"Right…" said Cyborg, "Talked."

"We did talk."

"In between make-out sessions of epic proportions." Kenkaku said nothing. "Hah! I knew it."

"_Mythological,"_ grumbled the ronin in Japanese, _"Mythological proportions."_

"What was that?"

"Shut up and turn on the communicator," said Kenkaku, blushing lightly, an impressive feat, as he was still wearing the Ittou skin.

"Yeah, yeah." Cyborg turned on his arm's communicator and held it out so both of them were picked up by the camera. "You there Raven?"

Raven's cloaked form appeared on the screen. "Good to see you two."

"Though you prefer the special line, right?" asked Cyborg.

Raven blushed, though with her hood up, Cyborg couldn't see it. Kenkaku couldn't see it per se, but he knew it was there. "A little off-topic, wasn't that?" she retorted as she regained her composure. "How goes the mission?"

"We got put in with Team Hydra, as you know," said Kenkaku. "Mammoth seems to be getting along well with me. I've also got a suspect for your half-sister. Gizmo seems like a right bastard."

"I'm getting along well with Jinx. Gizmo really is a bastard. The new headmaster is planning the destruction of the Titans."

"Oh, yeah. Can you research spells that make both the caster and the recipient's eyes glow red? I'm pretty sure demons and half-demons are immune, and it can be used on plenty of people at once."

"What are you talking about, dawg?"

"Brother Blood cast it at the speech. I don't know if it hit you, but the only person I saw to not have their eyes flash red was a girl with what looked like demonic magic crackling around her."

"She's your suspect?" asked Raven.

"Yeah. I'm going to try and confirm my suspicions or see if I'm wrong."

"Okay. Be careful, Ker."

"I will."

"Hey, what am I, chopped liver?"

"Yes," said Raven with a smirk.

"Prepackaged," added Kenkaku.

"Whatever man."

"Anyway, I'll look up that spell and give Robin an initial report. Good luck."

---

Japanese Flavor Text:

Sunei: Finally

---

A/N: Yes, I know it's been forever and that this chapter is blindingly short. What can I say? School. I'm working on a big project that's going on throughout the year, but I got the itch. Expect infrequent updates on this story. I'm starting a rewrite of one of my oldest stories and doing an ongoing story for school…needless to say, I'm busy. But this story is not dead. Far from it. Just keep reviewing, it helps.


	6. Checking the Cards: Part 1

This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine, however, as well as the basic 'Prophecies Universe' and characters.

* * *

Rolling the Dice:

The Second Prophecy

A 'Prophecies Universe' fanfiction.

* * *

"text": spoken English

"_text_": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)

"**text**": war cry, English

"**_text_**": war cry, Japanese.

_text_: thoughts

-text-: stressed word

text: printed or typed English

_text_: printed or typed Japanese

'text': sound effect

* * *

_Hmm, _thought Ittou as he walked to class, _I could have sworn that Soothsayer said something about Karasu-koishii's half-sister not being a demon at all. Meh, that girl is probably still worth checking out._

"…here."

"Repeat that, if you would, Mammoth."

"We are here."

Ittou turned to see the label Martial Arts on one of the hexagonal, yellow doors next to him. "Excellent."

* * *

"Thanks for showing me around, Jinx."

"Oh, no problem, Stone. Our course schedules are very similar." Jinx took a look at his schedule. "Actually, except for Vehicular Combat and Cybernetics, I take all of your classes at the same time as you."

The shortest member of Team Hydra grumbled as he flew past them, heading to Applied High Energy Physics. "Snot-munching new barf-brain," he muttered under his breath.

Both Stone and Jinx ignored him. "So, how's Hero Psychology? As a class, I mean," asked Stone.

"Oh, it's really good," answered Jinx with a smile. "It's a pretty high-profile class. The old Headmistress used to teach it personally. Said it was the most important class for any H.A.Y.E.P. student to take. But I heard that Brother Blood isn't taking over the job. Brought some new teacher in. Supposedly, they're really good at getting into people's minds."

"Huh. Sounds good at least." The two walked in.

* * *

"I am Sanjuro Adia. You will call me Master Adia, Adia-_sensei_, or _shishiou_. I am the teacher of martial arts for the HIVE." He turned his harsh stare upon the class. "Your powers do not matter here. In fact, I would hope that you would be so smart as to not use them, as I -will- administer punishment for the use of said powers, unless I allow them. Now, I know that many of you have been a part of my class before. Do not expect favoritism. You will earn your worth from the beginning, just like when you started." The man who had showed Ittou and Stone to their rooms stood up, and started pacing among the students, all of who were sitting in neat rows, either in _seiza _or_ anza_. "Now, to introduce the class, according to what internal team they might be assigned to." He indicated three well-muscled teenagers, all having similar looks, two guys and a girl. "Starting with our freshmen, we have Maus, Neb, and Switch, all from Team Cipher. They recently ran afoul of the Titans, and were taken down. Hopefully my teachings will prevent this in the future."

Sanjuro moved along the students to Ittou and Mammoth. "Ittou and Mammoth, Team Hydra. These two are sophomores, but both deserve respect. Team Hydra was one of the first groups to ever defeat the Titans soundly, even if they were defeated in another engagement. Ittou was not part of the team then, but he is the Bladeheir to Lord Trigon the Terrible, considered to have been the mightiest Demon Lord of all time."

He moved on "White Wolf and Cephalis, Team Loki." He indicated a large boy dressed in snow-white wolf pelts and the one Ittou was sure was a demonic magic user. "These two begin our junior class."

Next was a boy wearing a generic sports uniform, sitting next to a sharp-faced girl wearing of all things, a golfing outfit. They were also accompanied by a boy in a _dogi_. "Sportsman, Driver, Heavenstep, Team ESPN, and the final part of our junior class in this particular period."

Next was a black girl wearing tight black leather pants and a sleeveless yellow and black striped short top. Her hair was gathered into two poofy balls. "This is Bumblebee, of Team Swarm."

Sanjuro indicated a girl encased completely in shiny black armor, a goth boy wearing ratty black and gray robes, and a person wearing very baggy blue robes and a large straw hat that completely obscured their face except for two glowing yellow eyes. "Black Knight, Hades, and Mage, three of the members of Team Myth." He looked out at the class again. "That's everyone. You'll soon learn what the specialties of each person in the class are, whether it be the easy way, or the hard way."

Sanjuro pulled down a very large projection screen. "Today's class will be on your primary adversaries, the Titans. You will get to know their fighting styles inside and out, and analyze the best way to apply your particular fighting style to them before you ever go up against them in practice, using some of our training droids." He walked to the back of the room, where the projector waited, turning off the lights as he went. By the time he got back there, the only sources of light in the room were two silver eyes, two yellow eyes, and a faintly glowing red aura. "Experience against your classmates will prepare you for more generalized situations. Now, we begin with the leader of the Titans, Robin." A file picture of the red, yellow, black, and green costumed superhero showed up. "He is an accomplished martial artist wielding a style descended from a number of subsets of Wu Shu including Wing Chun, Monkey, Crane, Praying Mantis, and Shaolin Long Fist. He also seems to have training in _bojutsu_, the use of nunchaku and tonfa, as well as Escrima.

"Robin, of which we do not have the real name of on file, is simply a human teenager in his prime. He does not take any sort of performance enhancer that we know of, but is not ignorant of Chi Gong, enabling him to do many things which some would deem 'superhuman'. Do not underestimate him, but also, do not overestimate him. Now, on to his equipment.

"Robin, to this day, has been seen carrying an extendable bo staff, of which he most likely has multiples of, Escrima sticks which might be a partially collapsed form of his staff, nunchaku both of the proper variety and the Bruce Lee style, and a pair of tonfa. He also carries a type of razor-edged boomerangs of both the returning and one-way variety known as Birdarangs, as well as a number of types of discs that range from energy explosives to freeze payloads. He is well-versed in the throwing of these.

"Also, interestingly, Robin has been observed to have possession of a traditional _yari_, a Japanese spear, though whether he uses it or not is unknown. So, to sum up the situation, Robin is a threat at all ranges, but is weakest at long range, where his finite throwing ammo puts him at a disadvantage. However, I do not teach, for the most part, long-range combat. Therefore, you must learn this Titan's fighting style very well, and your own better, so that you may beat him at his own game, so to speak. We will go into more detail later. Next is the Tamaranian, Starfire…"

* * *

"…So therefore, my class is for those of you who wish to actually make it big as a modern-day terrorist," intoned the robed HIVE instructor teaching Hero Psychology. "In battle you might gain a slight advantage through my teachings, but it is in the planning stages that you will reap the greatest benefits. Now that we have put that out of the way, we can move on to our first lesson." He clicked on a remote which brought the wall screens to life, filled with notations. "We will be learning of the basic motivations of the hero today. Attend to wall number one." The class looked over to see a picture of the famous Superman.

"Superman. Perhaps the most famous hero, super or otherwise, on the planet. Origin is from the destroyed planet known as Krypton, his race is Kryptonian, which is related to the Argosian race, of which the hero Supergirl is from. Real name is Kal-el, and he goes by the name Clark Kent when not in costume, working as a reporter at the Daily Planet in his home city of Metropolis. Possesses the power of flight, near-invulnerability, x-ray vision, heat vision, and of course, super strength. Known weaknesses are to kryptonite, and it is known that he requires oxygen to survive. Magic is considered to be a good way to combat him.

"But as you will learn, the best is to make sure he can't fight you. You will do this through psychology. The first thing to consider is what makes him want to be a hero. In Superman's case it seems that his surrogate parents on Earth brought him up 'right'. In all things, Superman is very shall we say…boy scoutish. Truth, honesty, fairness, the absolute regard for life in all forms, all of these are very much a part of Superman's creed. For most, the easiest to exploit is his regard for life. Let's explore that, shall we?"

* * *

"…his jian remains an unknown quantity, but for the most part, this Titan should be treated as hopeless when it comes to martial arts. Therefore you'd do well to remember how to disable animals." Beast Boy's image faded from the screen, and was replaced by an out-of-date picture of Raven in her old costume.

"Raven, which by all indications is her real name. A deceiving quantity, she is a half-demon sorceress with blood from Trigon, but also has a fair amount of skill in martial arts. She is not known to follow any traditional style, with one exception, but melds basic avoidance fighting with her powers, taking full advantage of them. She is one of the most physically frail Titans, but her powers let her make up for that. Instead of blocking with her arm, she will draw a shield with her hand. Though her arm-based strikes are actually very standard, she will directly apply telekinetic force to her target as she strikes. The one area she needs no help from her powers in is kicks. She has quite strong and quick legs. Combined with her ability to levitate, this lets her release a rapid-fire assault. Until recently, she was not observed to have carried and weapons or equipment other than a communicator, but she now carries a supply of depleted uranium spheres to use as projectiles, as well as a pair of _wakizashi _which we suspect she is just starting training with. Therefore, this information on her may soon be obsolete, as is her picture. She still wears the cloak, but has abandoned the leotard for a synthetic sportsbike riding outfit and wears her hair longer. The reason for this is our next file." A picture of Kenkaku replaced Raven's on the screen.

"Kenkaku, real name Ker Selais. He was a registered metahuman drifter hero until recently. Accounts label him as a half-demon with blood from a line of Wind and one of Soul. Carries a pair of enchanted _katana_, called _Kanesada_ and _Muramasa_, only able to be wielded by him. He is quite skilled in their use, as he has trained in _Touki no Fenikkusu-ryu_. He also practices the art of _kiaijutsu_, the complete form, not the limited form that I teach. Recent events credit him with a victory in a duel to the death over Trigon and victories in another number of duels with demons and 'gifted' humans. Probably the most dangerous of the Titans, speaking strictly with regards to martial arts combat style. His primary weaknesses are his apparent reliance on his swords, as he seems to be less than skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and his tendency to quickly use all his _ki_ due to his extensive use of _kiaijutsu_. And as mentioned before, he will kill if pressed in the wrong way, and is quite capable of doing it too. Only so much can be done to prepare you for battle with someone like him. The rest is up to your skills and quite unfortunately, a good bit of luck. That's the Titans, students." Sanjuro walked along the wall, flipping the lights back on. "Now, as we have a bit of time yet, I think it would be good if we had a short exhibition match between…Heavenstep and Ittou. Staff-based weapons, no killing or maiming, but as always, do not hold back anything else. Powers are allowed."

Both Ittou and the boy in the dogi stood up and bowed to Adia-_sensei_ before walking onto the mat. Heavenstep selected a _naginata_ from the weapons he had brought to class while Ittou pulled out his blades, locking them together by the bases on the handles to form a staff-blade. He spun it in his hands, the silver blades seeming to form a continuous buzz-saw like blade in the air. "Ready."

Heavenstep held his _naginata_ forward, gaining the range advantage. "Ready."

"Then…"

* * *

"…they'll really get it!" crowed Gizmo as he stripped an extremely high-voltage wire. Examining it, and finding it good, he inserted it into the socket it was meant for, hooking the power supply to the high-frequency emitter before fastening the whole assembly into the rifle casing that the whole project was to go in. For a little warm-up they were making charged particle rifles. He was far and away the nearest to completion in the class with nothing left to do but work on the collimator and put the casing together. He pulled over his set of tools and went to work adjusting the collimator, making sure the rifle actually fired a blast rather than flooding the casing with high energy radiation and eventually killing the operator. "I tell you, those new students are going to get it but good."

"Right," said the guy at the workbench next to him. "So who exactly is going to help you with this?"

"I've got favors I can call in. Besides, with my genius, I don't need any help."

"Right, right. Well, tell me when you're going to do it. I want to see it firsthand."

"You got it."

* * *

"…Begin!"

"YAH!" Heavenstep lunged forward, circling the naginata so as to confuse Ittou as to the direction of the strike. Good luck. The spinning blades picked off the strike, forcing it far to the right of the demon. The red-skinned Bladeheir lunged forward, delivering a straight-armed palm strike to the other combatant's sternum. Heavenstep danced back, keeping on his feet, even if the strike had hit him full on. Ittou's luminescent eyes narrowed. It seemed that Heavenstep's power was always-impeccable footwork. Certainly a start to being a very, very good martial artist, but not the only part. _Well, when in Rome…_

Ittou's glowing eyes had been mere embers to the silver flame which now issued from his ocular sockets. His numerous black tattoos flared bright silver as well, sending dancing shadows about the room as his muscles moved. Ittou bared his fangs, a profoundly disturbing spectacle.

…_KICK ASS!_ The demon blink-dashed at his opponent, swinging the flat side of his blades into his opponent over and over and over…

* * *

'ZAAM!'

Gizmo smiled as he saw how the few modifications he had made to the compression chamber had boosted the rifle's power. "See, -that's- how you make an energy rifle."

The teacher looked over his work. "Very good Gizmo. I see no faults. Full marks." The rest of the class were still working on their rifles. Quite a few of them shot Gizmo nasty looks as he basked in the teacher's praise.

* * *

"Well now, we're running out of time. So then. Your assignment. You will research the times where someone used Superman's code against him, and then, picking one, show what the plan was missing, as after all, Superman is still out there."

The class groaned. Most elective teachers assigned minimal extra assignments, but it didn't seem like that would be the case here. Jinx just shrugged. "Sophomore year isn't so bad for assignments, and it'll give use something to do since we're banned from most leisure time activities."

"Guess you're right. So, what's next?"

Jinx thought a bit. "We go to the testing course next. Team demonstration. Look, the plan is that you and Mammoth lead, Gizmo and I support, and Ittou protects Gizmo and me."

"Sounds good. Is Mammoth going to tell blade-boy?"

"Yeah. You sure it's safe to call Ittou that?" she asked as they picked up their books and walked out into the hall.

"I'm not dead yet," laughed Stone. "Ittou's just a big softie." Suddenly he gulped. A very familiar blade was under his chin.

"A softie, huh?" growled out Ittou. Flipping the blade out from under Stone's chin, he sheathed it on his back. "There's a pile of hamburger back in the martial arts room who says different."

Stone gasped. "You didn't kill someone already, did you?"

"No, I just tenderized him."

Stone and Jinx looked at Mammoth. "He did…"

"Masterfully too," said someone walking down the hall past them. "I look forward to seeing you and your team in action, Bladeheir."

Jinx stared at the retreating leather top-clad back. "Was that just Cephalis?"

"Yeah," answered Mammoth, "I'm pretty sure it was."

Stone looked confused. "Wait, who's Cephalis?"

"She's a human who has great capabilities to use demonic magic without her form or mind being changed in any way," said Jinx.

"That's quite a feat," added Ittou to set things straight. "For the most part, only half-demons and full blood demons can use such magic without side effects."

"Side effects? Like what?"

"Oh, psychosis, dementia, strange growths, slowly turning into a Demon of the Book, things of that nature," listed Ittou, remembering what had been in the tomes retrieved from Ker's _sensei_. "Some half-demons are actually susceptible to the last side-effect and turn into full demons."

"Cephalis would probably be happy to have the last side-effect. She's pretty much determined to transcend her humanity. Very solitary, very studious."

"It was somewhat of a shock to see her in martial arts," contributed Mammoth. "From the beginning, she's only taken magics in electives. Maybe she heard about you, Ittou."

"Are you saying that a human girl might have a crush on me?"

"One that would rather be a demon, but yes, that sounds about right."

"Gahhh. That bodes badly."

* * *

A/N: Well, I feel it's time I reopened this story, and got back into the swing of writing. Actually, another telling of the story of Ker has been going through my head, but I think I'll get this one more complete before I really work on that one. Anyway…I'm back. 


End file.
